WHEN PARENTS STARVE THEIR CHILDREN

Any reports of child abuse or neglect are upsetting and disturbing, but I find the recent reports of alleged deliberate starvation of children to be inexplicable and reprehensible at the same time.  Two of these events in South Carolina, where I currently live, are typical of the decision of parents, natural, foster or adoptive, to refuse adequate food to children in their care. 

 The most recent case in Couth Carolina involved a family in Union County.  The adoptive parents are accused of not providing food to a brother and sister adoptive from their native country of Estonia eight years ago.  Responding to a report, a police officer found the kids at a playground near their home.  The boy, who is ten years old, weighed 45 pounds, while the twelve-year-old girl weighed forty pounds. The children reported to the officer that their parents had locked them in their room and refused to feed them.  The officer reported that they were so thin he could see their bones through their skin.  The children were taken into DSS Custody and the parents arrested.  One of the parents of the adoptive father is from Estonia and had suggested that he adopt orphaned kids from that nation.  The girl and boy suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and developmental problems. 

 The parents claimed that they had done nothing wrong and that the children had been under the care of a local physician who specialized in treating kids with developmental delays and fetal alcohol syndrome. DSS claimed that the agency had investigated the case in 2004, but could do nothing because of the statements from the doctor treating the kids.

The case is still under investigation, but if what the parents claim is true, I question if everything is being done for the medical condition of the children than can be done.  Do the adoptive parents have the financial resources and education to provide the kids with the care they need?  How often is the doctor seeing the kids and what is the program to guarantee that they are getting the nutrition they need?  This case raises serious questions about how we ensure that adoptive and foster kids are getting all the care they need.

 The second case in South Carolina occurred in July of 2006, when three adopted nephews of a family were discovered starving.  The five-year-old weighed 20 pounds, the seven-year-old 32 pounds and the eight-year-old 40 pounds. The uncle and aunt, who had adopted them after they parents had died, have a biological ten-year-old daughter who was not malnourished, but was infested with head lice. During their appearance before a judge the father claimed that the kids had suffered from a "stomach virus" that cause the weight loss, but medical reports refuted this claim.  The parents were jailed pending further investigation. 

 Other relatives of the boys reported that they had never been able to see them during visits.  The adoptive parents always made excuses about the boys not being home, but the boys claimed they had been locked in their rooms.

 In 2003 in New Jersey a family who had adopted six children and had five biological children were accused of starving four of the six adopted kids after a nineteen-year-old boy who weighted just 45 pounds was discovered searching through a dumpster for food.  Raymond and Vanessa Jackson received $400 per month per adopted child, a total of $2,400 per month. A DYS case workers had made 38 visits to the Jackson home, but never reported any problems is spite of the fact that the boy's malnourished condition was obvious.  This case resulted in the jailing of the parents, the return of the adopted kids to the state foster care program and a number of resignations and terminations in the Department of Youth Services. 

 A Florida Couple was arrested in Utah after fleeing that state for the severe abuse of five of their seven adopted children.  Linda and John Dollar were charged with starving and the physical torture of the five children, including pulling out their toenails with pliers.

The gruesome treatment of the children is too lengthily to detail here, but a links to that and related stories are posted below.  Full statistics on the child abuse in the America are available at www.childhelpusa.org. 

 None of us understands what motivates parents to consciously starve children in their care, or place them on vegan, or other fad or religiously inspired, diets that can cause their deaths or result in physical and mental underdevelopment. It is clear that simple ignorance, mental or emotional illness, drug and alcohol addictions and other factors play a role in these cases.  Every state has the equivalent of the Department of Social Services or the Department of Youth Services that is supposed to protecting children from all types of abuse and neglect, but all of them are woefully under funded and understaffed for the job that needs to be done.  The state legislatures are responsible for determining what funding and staffing is needed, and in almost all cases they had done a poor job.

 When I was working in mental health as a child and adolescent therapist, we were told that referring a case to DSS was futile unless it was of the direst circumstances.  DSS was already overwhelmed and only the most dangerous cases would get priority.  There are incompetent and lazy DSS workers, but on the whole they do the best they can with the resources they have.  After several notorious cases of child abuse Governor Bush attempted to restructure the DSS process, but indications are that not much has changed. When my wife and I were foster parents, one of the girls we had came directly from a DSS supervised facility. The day we received the girl we became aware that she was undernourished, ill with a respiratory infection and had a severe case of head lice after spending several months in the facility.    

 Reporting cases of suspected child abuse and neglect is everyone's job, but schoolteachers, metal health and medical personnel and anyone who comes in regular contact with children have special responsibilities.  Many states have passed laws that make it a criminal offense for a professional person who works with children to fail to report a case of suspected child abuse or neglect. The average citizen who suspects a child is being abused or neglected can make an anonymous report to the local DSS/DYS function without the fear of retaliation or lawsuit. 

 We need to put pressure on out lawmakers to properly fund and staff the DSS/DYS function in their states.  Children who are physically, emotionally or sexually abused, and who do not receive proper treatment and care, grow up to be adults who are more likely to suffer from alcohol and drug addictions and who are at greater risk of abusing their own children.  From my interviews with jail inmates, I also know that many of them came from abusive and neglectful homes. It is a case of pay now or later, but when we pay later the cost is always much greater.  I have heard the stories about DSS taking children from their parents without good cause, and I know it happens, but sometimes we must err on the side of safety.  The solution is an adequately funded DSS, professional, better paid DSS workers that are held to high standards, and a court system that objectively and fairly judges parents accused by child abuse or neglect. 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/04/family.torture/

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/miami_death.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,51494,00.html